Washington State Ski Olympians and Other Prominent Skiers

Grace Carter Lindley McKnight,1936 U.S. Alpine Olympic Ski Team; first Women’s U.S. Alpine National Slalom Champion.

Shirley Fopp, 1942 Women’s Alpine National Ski Combined Champion; Women’s Silver Ski Champion.


Don Fraser, 1936 U.S. Alpine Olympic Ski Team and 1948 U.S. Olympic Ski Team, St. Moritz, Switzerland; won the first Silver Ski Competition on Mr. Rainier; met Gretchen skiing Paradise and then again at ski races at Mt. Spokane, they married in 1938 and moved to Sun Valley.


Gretchen Kunigh Fraser, 1948 U.S. Alpine Olympic Ski Team, St. Moritz, Switzerland; first American to ever win an Olympic Gold Medal in skiing (Slalom). Gretchen also won a Silver Medal in the Combined Event. Born in Tacoma, competed for the University of Puget Sound Ski Team, trained with Otto Lang at Paradise.


Dave Faires, 1948 U.S. Alpine Olympic Ski Team, St. Moritz, Switzerland.


Don Amick, 1948 U.S. Alpine Olympic Ski Team, St. Moritz, Switzerland.


Jack Nagel, 1952 U.S. Alpine Olympic Ski Team, Oslo, Norway.


Janette Burr, 1952 U.S. Alpine Olympic Ski Team, Oslo, Norway; 1954 U.S. Alpine World Championships, Are, Sweden; first American to win a FIS World Championship (Giant Slalom).


Dorothy Surgenor, 1952 U.S. Alpine Olympic Ski Team, Oslo Norway; 1956 U.S. Alpine Olympic Ski Team.


Judy Nagel, 1968 U.S. Alpine Olympic Ski Team, Chamrousse, France (ski area near Grenoble); youngest American skier to win an Alpine World Cup (Heavenly Valley).


Christina “Kiki” Cutter, 1968 U.S. Alpine Olympic Ski Team, Chamrousse, France (ski area near Grenoble), 1968 U.S. Alpine World Cup Team, Oslo, Norway, first American to win a World Cup event (Slalom).


Susie Corrock Luby, 1972 U.S. Alpine Olympic Ski Team, Sapporo, Japan, Bronze Medal, Downhill.


Bill Taylor, 1980 U.S. Alpine Olympic Ski Team, Lake Placid, New York


Phil Mahre, 1980 U.S. Alpine Olympic Ski Team, Lake Placid, New York; 1984 U.S. Alpine Olympic Ski Team, Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, Gold Medal, Slalom.


Steve Mahre, 1980 U.S. Alpine Olympic Ski Team, Lake Placid, New York; 1984 U.S. Alpine Olympic Ski Team, Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, Silver Medal, Slalom.


Debbie Armstrong, 1984 U.S. Olympic Ski Team, Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, Gold Medal, Giant Slalom; 1988 U.S. Olympic Ski Team, Calgary, Canada.


Shannon Bloedel, 1992 U.S. Alpine Paralympics, Albertville, France, Silver Medal, Monoski, Giant Slalom.


Jim Martinson, 1992 U.S. Alpine Paralympics, Albertville, France, Gold Medal, Monoski, Downhill.


Scott Macartney, 2002 U.S. Alpine Olympic Ski Team, Salt Lake City, Utah, first racer on the Downhill course at Snow Basin; 2006 U.S. Alpine FIS World Cup, Garmisch Partenkirchen, Germany, Silver Medal, Super G; 2006 U.S. Alpine Olympic Ski Team, Torino, Italy.


Libby Ludlow, 2006 U.S. Olympic Ski Team, Torino Italy.


Mark Bathum, 2010 U.S. Alpine Paralympics, Vancouver, Canada, Silver Medal, Visually Impaired, Downhill.


Patrick Deneen, 2010 U.S. Alpine Olympic Ski Team, Vancouver, Canada, Freestyle Moguls; 2009 U.S. Freestyle World Alpine Ski Championships, Gold Medal; born in Cle Elum, trained at Snoqualmie Summit.


Craig Kelly, Professional Snowboarder-known as the ‘Godfather of Freeriding’ the best snowboarder of all time.

Won 4 World Championships and 3 U.S. Championships between 1978 and 1993. He was the first Snowboarder to appear in an Imax Theater. He died in an avalanche in 2003 near Revelstoke, British Columbia.


Knut Olberg, 8 World Master’s Alpine Championships, France, Italy and Andorra; Several Master’s Alpine National Norwegian, Canadian, and American Championships in Super G, Giant Slalom, Slalom, 1977-2011.


Andrew McLean, ‘the doctor of steep skiing’ in Utah; his book “the Chuting Gallery’ is the bible for all hard-core backcountry big mountain skiers in the Wasatch Mountains. Andy is a member of Utah’s Hall of Fame. Before moving to Utah, Andy raced on the Alpental Race Team and skied the Chutes at Alpental.


Tracy McEwan Gibbons, U.S. Alpine Ski Team


Keith Thompson, National Master’s Champion